1/31/07

Leaders in the Masorti (Conservative) Movement were split Tuesday on what the local impact would be of the appointment of a new dean to the Jewish Theological Seminary's (JTS) Rabbinical School who is in favor of normalizing the status of gay and lesbian Jews.

The JTS's incoming chancellor, Prof. Arnold Eisen, who has in the past voiced support for same-sex commitment ceremonies and the ordination of homosexual rabbis, chose Rabbi Daniel Nevins to replace Rabbi William Lebeau as dean of the rabbinic school. Eisen's decision was announced Monday after a search committee of about a dozen Conservative Movement leaders interviewed a list of potential candidates.

Its stand on homosexuality is just one of many challenges facing the American Conservative Movement, which has been losing membership to both Reform and Orthodox streams of Judaism.

Nevins, who spoke to The Jerusalem Post by telephone from the US, denied that his opinions on the homosexuality issue were central to his appointment.

"I was asked about my opinions on a long list of issues including the training of successful pulpit rabbis, Jewish education and my vision for the future of Conservative Jewry," he said.

Nevins coauthored "Homosexuality, Dignity and Halacha," a halachic opinion approved by the Conservative Movement's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS). It was the most liberal halachic opinion approved by the CJLS, the Conservative Movement's supreme halachic authority.

Nevins argued that Conservative Judaism must retain the Torah's explicit prohibition of homosexual intercourse. But Nevins called for full normalization of the status of gay and lesbian Jews. Conservative Judaism should ordain gay and lesbian Jews and recognize commitment ceremonies, though not as sanctified marriage.

Rabbi Andy Sacks, director of the Rabbinical Assembly in Israel and a supporter of normalizing homosexuality in the Conservative Movement, applauded the Nevins appointment.

"How can it not be part of a momentum and a certain direction that has begun in the Conservative Movement?" Sacks asked. "It is hard for me to believe that Israel can be insulated from that liberalizing phenomenon, albeit the community here has not only the right but the obligation to make its own decision."

Regardless of the homosexual issue, Sacks praised Nevins as "a man with the highest moral qualities. He is personable, committed and warm and has all the qualities needed as a dean."

Sacks also said that the appointment by Eisen indicates openness at the JTS that would not have existed under the previous chancellor. Sacks was referring to outgoing JTS Chancellor Ismar Schorsh, who was outspoken in his opposition to the normalization of homosexuality.

In contrast, Rabbi David Golinkin, president of the Schechter Institute, also praised Nevins, but denied that the appointment signaled a future change in the JTS's admissions policy regarding homosexuals.

"I would imagine the JTS chose someone that could live with various points of views on the issue of homosexuality," said Golinkin, who pointed out that none of the Conservative rabbinic seminaries, including the University of Judaism in Los Angeles, the most liberal institution, have officially changed their admissions policies.

"Opinions on homosexuality are heavily influenced by sociological factors," said Golinkin. "That's why you'll find Conservative rabbis in Europe and South America and mid-America tend to be less liberal on the issue."

Professor Steven M. Cohen, a fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, has just completed a survey of over 10,000 Conservative rabbis, cantors and laymen on their opinion regarding normalization of homosexuality. Results are expected in coming days.

Rabbi Einat Ramon, dean of the Schechter Rabbinic School in Israel, refused to comment on Nevins's position regarding homosexuality.

In a recent conference on homosexuality at the Schechter Institute, both Ramon and Golinkin spoke out against the Nevins opinion, which was coauthored by Rabbi Elliot N. Dorff and Avram Reisner.

Excerpts from Ramon's and Golinkin's speeches were posted by an American Conservative rabbinical student spending a year in Israel on "www.jewschool.com," a blog that focuses on liberal Jewish issues. These excerpts were verified for the Post by anonymous sources who were also present during the speeches.

Ramon said that the position put forward by Nevins endangered the "traditional family."

"Conservative Judaism must protect the family from those with an agenda to see that it is destroyed," said Ramon. "Those are the homosexuals who have already succeeded in this destruction within the Reconstructionist Movement. Only by standing strong can the family be protected."

As dean of Schechter's rabbinic school, Ramon said that she could not and would not allow her institution to contribute to the further breakdown of traditional family values, as she understood them.

Golinkin denied the quotes in his name that appear on www.jewschool.com, but admitted that Nevins's opinion on homosexuality was "difficult to justify according to Conservative halachic criteria."

Nevins is currently the senior rabbi of Adat Shalom synagogue in Farmington Hills, Michigan, where he previously served as assistant rabbi. A 1994 graduate of The Rabbinical School, he received an MA in Hebrew Letters from JTS in 1991 and a BA from Harvard College in 1989, where he also received an MA in history.

Nevins is past president of the Michigan region of the Rabbinical Assembly and serves on the board of the Frankel Jewish Academy of Metropolitan Detroit. Deeply committed to interfaith and interreligious work, he is past president of the Farmington Area Interfaith Association and the ecumenical Michigan Board of Rabbis, and a member of the board of the Detroit chapter of the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion.

In May 2005, Rabbi Nevins led a group of Protestant and Catholic leaders on a unique trip that included Pope Benedict XVI's first public audience, Holocaust Memorial Day at Titus's Arch in Rome and a week in Israel visiting Jewish and Christian holy places.

Jerusalem officially registered its first homosexual couple as married Monday, three months after a ruling by the High Court of Justice paved the way for same-sex couples to be listed in the Interior Ministry's Population Registry.

Binyamin and Avi Rose married on June 28 in Toronto, Canada, but immediately returned to Jerusalem to start building their life together."We did the civil ceremony in the hopes that we would eventually be able to make legal what we felt inside," said Avi, an informal Jewish educator for the Young Judaea youth movement.

"We wanted the government of Israel to recognize that we are a couple. It was no more of a statement than [coming from] a 'regular' couple, but we are both committed Zionists and are hopeful that our union will bring more progress on this issue."

Binyamin, a social worker and therapist who is currently studying at a Conservative yeshiva in Jerusalem, said the registration process at the Interior Ministry had been fairly straightforward.

"Once we had all the right documentation, the process was pretty positive," said Binyamin, who made aliya from Britain in 2006. The clerks at the office "were a little confused by our application but they made the necessary changes to the forms and they came through beautifully for us."

"It was wonderful to get married at the city hall in Toronto, but it was far more important for the State of Israel to recognize us as a couple," said Avi, adding that his father, a rabbi in the US, facilitated a religious Jewish ceremony for the couple prior to the civil one.

He said Monday's registration sent a strong message to other gay couples that Israel recognizes and accepts them as Jews like anyone else.

"The protests last year over the Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem really spooked us, and many of our friends here chose to leave the city," said Avi. "But we are very committed to building our lives in Jerusalem and the Interior Ministry provided us with a very positive experience today."

Interior Ministry spokeswoman Sabene Haddad confirmed that the Roses were the first same-sex couple to be registered at the ministry's Jerusalem branch.

"We work in accordance with the law," she said. "The ministry has no problem with registering same sex marriages and we have become very advanced in processing such requests elsewhere in the country."

In November, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) sponsored five High Court petitions by homosexual couples (not including the Roses) married abroad demanding that the Interior Ministry register them as married. A panel of seven justices, headed by now-retired Supreme Court president Aharon Barak, ruled unanimously that their marriages must be recognized by the state. None of the couples registered in Jerusalem.

Yoav Loeff, spokesman for ACRI, told The Jerusalem Post Sunday he was happy November's High Court decision had paved the way for other same sex couples to be recognized, but he said there was still a long way to go before the discrimination against such couples completely disappeared.

"There is still discrimination in Israel, and not everyone can afford or wants to go to Canada to get married," said Loeff. He said that while several other countries allowed such marriage ceremonies, Canada is a popular place for foreign couples to tie the knot because neither person is required to be a citizen.

Irit Rosenblum, director of the New Family organization, which advocates for the right of Israelis to establish marriages or unions outside of the traditional system, said the registration of a gay couple in the capital was especially significant following the violent debate over the gay pride parade.

"They deserve to live their lives like anyone else," she said. "This is more than a legal victory, it is a humanitarian victory and a message for society to be more tolerant."

1/29/07

Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov said Monday he would never allow a gay parade to take place in Moscow despite pressure from the West, Russia’s RIA-Novosti news agency reports.

“Last year, Moscow came under unprecedented pressure to sanction the gay parade, which can be described in no other way than as Satanic,” Luzhkov said at the 15th Christmas educational readings in the Kremlin Palace.

“We did not let the parade take place then, and we are not going to allow it in the future,” said Luzhkov who has been in office since 1992.The conservative 70-year-old mayor of the Russian capital also banned Portuguese bullfights in Moscow in 2001 for their violence and did not let the St. Petersburg-based rock group Leningrad perform in the city because of their explicit lyrics.

Luzhkov thanked the attending head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II, for his support at a time when, he said, the West is exerting considerable pressure on Moscow authorities and trying to promote gay relationships under the cover of creativity and freedom of expression.

“Religious thinkers throughout the world have said that the West has reached a crisis of faith. Some European nations bless single-sex marriages and introduce sexual guides in schools,” Luzhkov said. “Such things are a deadly moral poison for children.”

This is the second time Moscow authorities have banned a gay parade in Moscow. On May 26, 2006, a Moscow district court upheld a Moscow government resolution prohibiting a gay march, which was scheduled for the next day, as opposition to the planned event was strong in Russia, especially from the Russian Orthodox Church and other religious leaders.

Despite the ban, about 200 people took to the streets May 27 in an unsanctioned demonstration to mark the 13th anniversary of the decriminalization of homosexuality in Russia.

The attempt resulted in violent clashes between sexual minorities and their opponents — representatives of a number of political parties, religious and radical movements — and the detention of some 120 people from both sides, most of whom were later released.

Rabbi Yehuda Levin will be the keynote speaker Jan. 22 at the annual March for Life in Washington D.C.

A father of nine, he is a special envoy to the Holy Land on pro-life issues and a member of the Rabbinical Alliance of America, representing 850 Orthodox Rabbis. The theology may be vastly different, but when it comes to pro-life issues, Orthodox Judaism and the Catholic Church could not be closer.

He spoke Jan. 2 to the Register correspondent Edward Pentin about how the two faiths can work together to build a civilization of life.

It’s not often you hear members of the Jewish faith speaking about pro-life issues as you do. Why is that?

First of all, we have to understand that the Orthodox Jews are like the Pennsylvania Dutch — the Amish — they’re in a kind of ghetto without walls and nothing’s going to change them. We have to devote all our efforts to helping preserve our own way of life.

Why are you trying to involve more Orthodox Jews in these issues now?

Recently in the vanguard of orthodoxy, people like me are realizing and preaching to others that the world is now such a small global village that every piece of anti-family immoral legislation and media is having a trickle-down effect on our people.

So people are starting to wake up to the fact we have to join ranks with those of other faiths who are much more powerful than us, like the Catholic Church, and to stand shoulder to shoulder with them — not to discuss the Holocaust or apologize for things that were done or not, God forbid, or get involved in who the Catholic Church should beatify. That’s a trespass and it’s none of our business to say anything about that.

Rather, we talk about what is our common business: to preserve God’s family values against abortion, homosexuality, Internet pornography and merry-go-round, no-fault divorce. These are the things we need to unite around and take to the streets on — to bring out the faithful.

What is the biggest priority?

We’ve got to take back the leadership of the pro-family movement, which should not be a lay leadership; it should be priests and rabbis, preaching every Sabbath and Sunday about legislation and things that impact on the family and saying: “Come onto the streets and join me on the streets to exercise our democratic right and our obligations to cry out against Sodom in the center of the city.”

Do you represent a majority in Judaism or are there large groups in your religion that would oppose these pro-life positions?

There are broken branches of Judaism such as the Orwellians — named “conservative Judaism” — who in the last few weeks embraced homosexual clergy or homosexual marriage. But they’re like Catholics for a Free Choice. That’s just paganism and apostasy, and the outrage of it all is that it’s in the name of a religion. So it has become very clear to many people that it is a pagan agenda.

People are looking to the Orthodox because we’re reproducing at the rate of 7, 8, 9, 10 or more children in each of our families, so in the next 30-40 years we will become the outright majority of the Jewish people. We will live out the life of the prophets — we never lost it. Those are our standards.

Do you depend on the Catholic Church taking a leading role in this?

The Catholic Church has traditionally been the leader. It’s the largest denomination in the world, certainly of the Judeo-Christian ethic. I say that when the Catholic Church sneezes, the Jews get a cold, meaning that if the Catholic Church decides to look away or de-emphasize a family value — on any level whether on the parish or bishopric level — then our families are affected, as well. We look with respect and appreciation to Pope John Paul and his right-hand man, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who is now Pope Benedict.

He has been speaking strongly and forcefully through Church teaching on the objective disorders of homosexuality and the problems of the abortion mentality. We need that to trickle down to every parish, and I promise you that when it does there will be close to a million Orthodox Jews applauding and joining Catholics on the streets in demonstrations, taking back the naked public square from corrupt politicians.

Tell us more about how you have collaborated also with the Church at the United Nations.

This goes back a few years, but Catholics for a Free Choice was attempting to de-legitimize the Catholic Church by taking away their non-governmental status. I was proud to join with Mrs. Robert Bork and prominent evangelicals and others at a press conference at the U.N., and over the years, going back as far as when Cardinal John O’Connor came to New York and made a Holocaust/abortion analogy that was jumped on by The New York Times, which accused him of anti-Semitism. I worked with the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights to defend him, and this led to a strong relationship with Cardinal O’Connor.

So I try not to bite the hand that feeds me, but to appreciate the tremendous progress the Church has made since Vatican II.

It’s been unbelievable.

The visits to the concentration camps by two popes, the visit to Jerusalem, the Western Wall, the pleas for forgiveness, the visit to the synagogues and the numerous teachings of the Church on the issues of the Jews.

We owe them bigtime for that.

And we see that the activism now should be an activism-dialogue on the street level rather than a high intellectual level. Let’s bring it to the masses of the faithful that need to see religious leaders on the streets that leads to the glory of God.

I am hopeful that if the message of Benedict, the fruition of 25 years of Cardinal Ratzinger, is communicated and adapted by bishops worldwide and local parish priests, and activists, I’m very confident we can turn things back, but only if that happens. It’s a do-or-die situation.

What will be your theme at the March for Life in Washington on Jan. 22?

One thing I’m going to talk about is the problem of Conservative Judaism, which is vis-à-vis reform, in other words, it’s ultra-liberal. People don’t know that. It’s terrible because we’re giving Jews a black eye, so that’s one thing.

Then I want to tell people what they might want to hear or might not: the reason that, thank God, we lost both houses of Congress. We had a president and head of both houses of Congress and all that did on family values issues in the past six years was lip service.

So we thank you, God, for losing it so at least we’re not responsible now.

We want to reinvigorate our efforts, so God will give back to us in two years the presidency and Congress. It’s up to us what we’re going to do, to take to the streets. So that’s what I’ll say.

1/25/07

ROME, January 3, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In a move that Orthodox Jews assert marks a “new ecumenism” with Rome, a special emissary of the Rabbinical Alliance of America, representing over 850 Orthodox Rabbis, gathered in an emergency meeting with Vatican officials in Rome January 2 to discuss ways of blocking the worldwide push for homosexual “marriage.”

In particular they wanted to coordinate with Rome to stop the Italian government’s proposed homosexual civil union legislation, which could appear as a bill in the Italian Senate by the end of this month.

In a recent press release Rabbi Yehuda Levin, a leading representative of the Rabbinical Alliance, declared that this proposed legislation marks “the latest attempt by the worldwide Homosexual network to impose their amoral values on normative society. We can no longer respond to these pressures in a piecemeal manner. A reenergized religious leadership needs to reassert its role in protecting the family—24/7.“We support the Pope’s call for the defeat of the Homosexual Civil Union legislation now pending in the Italian legislature. This is just ‘Gay Marriage,’ by another name. Like ‘Gay Marriage,’ it undermines the special place of marriage in the life of decent family people.”

Indeed, though the Italian government is pushing to legalize homosexual civil unions, it seems that the average Italian would not support their government in doing so. A late 2005 Ipso Ltd. poll revealed that 70% of Italians would not condone homosexual “marriage.” An even more recent poll asked 30,000 citizens of the European Union if they would condone homosexual “marriage”; 49% said they would not.

That so many Europeans remain opposed to homosexual marriage and civil unions indicates that the homosexual lifestyle runs counter to beliefs even more fundamental than religious differences. Rabbi Levin addressed the surprise of some that Orthodox Jews should undertake to work so closely with the Vatican.

“It is well known that we, as Orthodox Jews, are not permitted to engage in inter-religious theological discussion. However, we must join together with the Vatican, and with all others, who defend the family, lest we end up as Sodom and Gomorrah.

“We must join together and go on the offensive against those who seek to undermine the G-D-given values that form the basis of our civilization—the Abortionists, the Internet Pornographers, and the Radical Homosexuals.”

Pope Benedict XVI has likewise stated that the Italian government’s wish to grant legal recognition to homosexual couples is an issue over which he “cannot remain silent.” In a December 22 year-end address to Vatican bureaucracy, Pope Benedict XVI rejected the criticisms of those Italian politicians who say the Church should not get involved in what they claim is a political issue. The Pope insisted, “If one says the Church should not interfere in these matters, then we can only respond: should mankind not interest us?”

During the remainder of your term, we urge you to use your bully pulpit to rally Americans to unequivocally support the right to life of the pre-born, champion the biblical values of family without compromise or politics and declare a high profile war against the mind ravaging domestic terrorism of pornography and obscenity in all its forms from print to internet.

Explain to our youth the importance of abstinence, chastity, modesty, holiness, heterosexual marriage, and fidelity.Act as a counter-balance to the political leaders who don’t hesitate to preach and promote the contrary values: Homosexual unions, de facto homosexual marriage, abortion on demand, pornography or internet smut in the name of freedom of expression and the list goes on.

Mr. President, prioritize a vigorous fightagainst all types of pornography including the Internet variety.If you frequently highlight the Biblical family values uncompromisingly, you will surely be blessedin your personal life with decent G-d fearing grandchildren and G-d will surely honor you and exalt you, giving success to your other endeavorson behalf of our great country.

Please Mr. President, call a series of high-profile meetings in the White House on the aforementioned issues and join upcoming pro-life and family outdoor rallies across this nation and together lets reclaim the streets by promoting the values that made America great.

In the world of ecumenical relations, few can match the courage and achievements of the Jewish Rabbi Yehuda Levin. For more than a quarter of a century, this energetic religious leader has fought for pro-life and pro-life family values across the globe, uniting peoples of many faiths, emerging as a hero in the ongoing “culture wars.”

Now just over 52, hailing from Brooklyn, New York, the father of nine children — and grandfather of two — Rabbi Levin is one of the best-known and most respected Orthodox Jewish leaders in America.

For many years, he has been a special representative of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the US and Canada, and the Rabbinical Alliance of America, with a joint membership of 1,000 rabbis, representing the philosophy of more than 2 million Orthodox and traditional Jews worldwide. He speaks on religion and morality from a Jewish Torah perspective and is the chief spokesman for Jews for Morality. He has become a fixture at the annual address to the March for Life Rally in Washington, D.C. (organized by pro-life Catholic stalwart Nellie Gray) held every January 22, the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. The lay Catholic leaders he has worked with include Judie Brown of the American Life League and Dr. William Donohue of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. But perhaps his most fruitful collaborations have been with leaders of the Christian clergy, including the late John Cardinal O’Connor, Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis, Vatican officials, and the Pope himself. Rabbi Levin’s active support for Catholic causes and values is enough to make Catholics themselves blush. Consider:

— In the 1980s, after the late John Cardinal O’Connor, then the bishop of Scranton, was appointed the archbishop of New York, he was greeted by a chorus of criticism from the secular media for drawing a parallel between abortion and the Holocaust. Rabbi Levin immediately rose to the cardinal’s defense and said the comparison, intended to highlight the sacredness of innocent human life, was both powerful and apt. During the 1990’s, having become a close personal friend of the cardinal, Rabbi Levin was invited to the archbishop’s New York residenceduring a papal visit to meet with Pope John Paul II, where he informed the pontiff of Jewish pro-life and pro-family activism.

— When Father Paul Marx of Human Life International drew attention to the involvement of certain Jewish individuals and organizations in abortion — as he had to Catholic, Protestant and secular support for this radical evil — he was accused, outrageously, of anti-Semitism. Rabbi Levin, who himself has often criticized secular Jews for condoning abortion, condemned these attacks with vigor and declared that Fr. Marx was a strong friend and ally of the Jewish community, standing shoulder to shoulder with him in his defense of innocent life within the womb.

— In 2000, when an aggressive campaign was launched by secularists to expel, or at least downgrade, the Holy See’s observer status at the United Nations, Rabbi Levin participated in a major press conference at the UN (covered by ITV that same year) in support of the Church’s presence, saying it was indispensable to the organization’s moral and political health. His view prevailed, and the efforts to downgrade the Church’s UN status failed.

— During the last few years, Rabbi Levin has led efforts to counter the homosexual agenda in the Holy Land, outspokenly opposing an annual “Gay Parade” march through the streets of Jerusalem. In May of 2006, Rabbi Levin wrote a special letter to Pope Benedict XVI, imploring him and the Church for help: “We plead for the Most Esteemed Pontiff to strongly condemn the intended upcoming sacrilege… If we have any chance of preventing this blasphemy, it is only if the leaders and practitioners of the other faiths speak loudly, unequivocally and often.” As a result of this dramatic appeal, transmitted through diplomatic circles, the Holy See, in a highly unusual act, sent a telegram to the Israeli officials urging them to cancel the scheduled gay parade through the streets of Jerusalem. This international pressure, initiated by Rabbi Levin, worked: the parade, originally scheduled for August, was delayed and then eventually cancelled, and the advocates of the “gay” ideology were required to confine their event to a small, isolated stadium in November, surrounded by the police, away from the main streets of Jerusalem, where families with children would have been forced to watch.

At a time when so many political and even religious leaders refuse to call sin a sin, and when many use timid language, Rabbi Levin is not afraid to call moral evil by its proper name.

At the pro-family events he attends, he speaks the language of an Old Testament prophet, calling wayward children back to God. Abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality, fornication, adultery, pornography — you name the moral evil, and Rabbi Levin is sure to have unequivocally condemned it.

Having achieved so much in his life, Rabbi Levin has not slowed down, but actually redoubled his efforts. “So much has been accomplished, and yet so much remains to be done,” he says. “Jews, Christians and all good people of faith are under attack, and yet many don’t even recognize it, and if they do, they make needless concessions in order to get along. I don’t believe in cowering before the secular establishment, but standing up for my moral beliefs and asking people who share them to join me.”

BROOKLYN, NY, November 21, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In an interview today, LifeSiteNews.com spoke with Rabbi Yehuda Levin, the Special Emissary to Israel for The Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada and The Rabbinical Alliance of America, about the Israeli' High Court of Justice's ruling today that homosexual couples married abroad will be registered as married couples in Israel.

Rabbi Levin recently returned from Jerusalem, where he represented over 1,000 Rabbis in a coalition of Christians, Jews, and Muslims who successfully stopped a homosexual WorldPride parade from taking place in the Holy City. He drew a link between the movement behind the parade and the 'marriage' decision. "My first reaction is 'I told you so, I warned you, I said this wasn't about a parade, it wasn't about an international convention, it was about the homosexualization of the Holy Land and by extension the Middle East," he said.

A THREAT TO AMERICA

The internationally respected Rabbi warned, "This is a direct threat to people around the world and especially the Americas." He explained, "Certain elements of the Muslim international community have been waiting to be able to point fingers at the relationship between Israel and America to be able to state that America has exported the worst part of Western culture to Israel as a portal to this section of the world - the Middle East."

"Consequently, I am fearful," he continued, "that at some point they will be able to defend their use of terrorism against American citizens throughout the world by saying that the ugly American has now exported their ugliness into the Middle East."

NOTES CHRISTIAN SILENCE ON GAY AGENDA IN ISRAEL

Rabbi Levin was critical of the slowness of Christian leaders, particularly in America, to challenge the Israeli leadership's support for the homosexual agenda. "I feel very clearly that there is a star-struck attitude on the part of Christian leadership when it comes to Israeli leadership," he said.

He noted that while vocal on the land-rights of Israel, several Christian groups have been slow to protect Israel from the homosexual agenda. "It is far worse to allow the homosexualization of the Holy Land than to give back land to the Arabs," Levin told LifeSiteNews.com.

"A SPIRITUAL HOLOCAUST" - "WORSE THAN A PHYSICAL HOLOCAUST"

Rabbi Levin stressed the severity of the situation saying: "There is something worse than taking an innocent person and exterminating them in this world, and that is when you take a person and exterminate him in this world and in the next world. You do that by bringing him into licentious sin. That way you are killing him, as our Rabbis taught in the Talmud over two millennia ago, you kill the person in this world and in the next world by bringing him into licentious sin whether its adultery, or other perversion or homosexuality, sexual sin. That is worse than killing."

While he stressed that this would never excuse any type of genocide or holocaust, he added: "Therefore on a certain level, even anti-Semitism that leads to the destruction of the Jewish people, is not the ultimate evil. The ultimate would be to take the Jew, or anybody else, and attempt to destroy them spiritually. That would be the ultimate holocaust."

APPEALS TO CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS TO JOIN FIGHT

"In as much as this is a Jewish struggle, for everyone who finds the Holy Land holy it is obligatory on them around the world to rally together with the forces who stand for morality," said Levin. "It is essential for Christian leadership in America to take strong action."

Rabbi Levin told LifeSiteNews.com that he has been working with Christians and even Muslims on the issue in Israel. "Because of the threat of worldwide homosexualization of the world," he said, "it is imperative that forces of faith across religious boundaries, that devout Catholics, Evangelicals, Jews and even Muslims, work together in as broad a coalition as possible to protect God's standards."

Rabbi Levin explained that the threat was coming not only from homosexual activists but from "homosexualists, meaning people who are not necessarily homosexual but are pushing the agenda, because somehow it gives them a kosher stamp of approval to be involved in heterosexual misbehaviour."

A FINAL PLEA

"If people of faith are serious enough then there's a hope to stem the tide of immorality," Rabbi Levin told LifeSiteNews.com. "But if we turn the other cheek to this evil, then we will all suffer worldwide. Because as the holy land goes, so by extension, will other areas of the world go. It will incur God's wrath."

"Fight with every fibre of your being the spiritual holocaust," he said, "which is robbing the values of the Jewish people in Israel and of the Christian people worldwide."

He concluded: "The most effective way of showing an opposition to the historic holocaust is to stop the holocaust of the spirit which is being perpetrated by the militant homosexual agenda."

Rome is on fire from the threat of homosexual marriage legislation; these same forces are promoting the homosexualization of the Holy Land (parades, conventions, adoption, partnership benefits, etc…), and in America, the political panderers have been promoting same-gender marriage and an extensive homosexual agenda.There are currently attempts to pass “Hate Speech” legislation, which would be used to prevent religious people from voicing their deepest convictions.

Nearly 50 million pre-born American babies have been eliminated through legalized abortion post Roe V. Wade.Both the rises of the homosexual culture and the abortion culture are seriously rooted in the pornographic sewage that is pumped out by Hollywood and their like-minded in the print media.

IT’S TIME TO FIGHT BACK!

We endorse the vision of Rabbi Yehuda Levin that it is time for religious values to be championed in the street rather than be restricted to the houses of worship and the confessional booths.Too many of the faithful, leaders and followers alike, have surrendered the streets and the common culture to the vicissitudes of craven politicians, social engineers and a corrupting media.

Internationally, society is at the tipping point.There are still more of us than them but the hour islate.

Thus we need to declare ourvalues in the streets.We must serve notice to mediaand politicians that we will nolonger be silent or silenced.We must inspire our youth by demonstrating that our faith must be lived and displayed in the streets seven days a week.

We have a vision of 50 million Americans of all races and backgrounds, of every denomination, banding together to put the politicians on notice: WE WILL BE SILENT NO MORE.

A new spirit ofecumenism based neither on dialogue, nor revisiting history, nor on saving the whales or the “environment”, but rather on saving the babiesand making our streets a spiritually wholesome environment.

Thus we join Rabbi Levin and other religious leaders and followers in recognizing the numerical and organizational strength of the Catholic Church and her leader who has so eloquently and steadfastly promoted the family values and respect for life, which is the cornerstone of our survival. Esteemed Pontiff Pope Benedict XVI, we urge you to come to New York as soon as possible to lead a series of outdoor rallies, consisting of people of all faiths, to promote the pro-life ethic and oppose the homosexual political agenda and homosexual marriage. Then lead a one million-person rally in Hollywood and call for the reinstitution of values.We need a return to censorship to combat the pornographic drug addiction of adults and youth alike.

With the eyes of the world upon us, we will G-d willing achieve victory in New York and set the stage for other similar public gatherings of inspiration and education countrywide and worldwide.

Most Eminent Pontiff, please come very soon and very often.You will be joined by other religious leaders and together we can speedily experience a return to the Biblical values that society so desperately needs.

1/24/07

Rabbi Yehuda Levin Speech to National March for Life, Washington, D.C., Thursday, January 22, 2004

Three decades ago, in 1973, a decadent Supreme Court, in this city of Washington, D.C., issued a shameful decree—the ROE vs. WADE ruling that empowered the abortion establishment to murder and mutilate tens of millions of G-D’s children in cold blood.

Today, 31 years later, ROE vs. WADE is still the law of this great country. So, we have come here today to dramatize this appalling condition.When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they made a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this guarantee, as far as her unborn children are concerned.

So, we have come to demand that America’s leaders make good on this guarantee. We have come to demand that President Bush act immediately, together with the leaders of the House and Senate, to restrict the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court on the subject of Abortion, and to change the law to protect America’s unborn children.

They have the right to do this, under the Constitution of the United States.

This is no time to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.

Now is the time to open the doors of life to all of G-D’s children. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the consequences of the continued murder of millions of unborn children.

The whirlwinds of protest will continue to shake the foundations of this nation until the bright day of justice emerges. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence.

Go back to New York, go back to California, and go back to all the states in between. I say to you today my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream—it is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day our political leaders will liberate themselves from the tyrannical rule of the pollsters and political gurus, and stand up for what is right and decent.

I have a dream that one day, very soon, no child will be murdered or mutilated in this great country—that all of America’s children will have the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of freedom.

So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California.

But not only that—let freedom ring from the abandoned abortion clinics of Planned Parenthood--From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

Let us speed up the day when all of G-D’s children: White, Black, Brown, Gentile, Catholic, Protestant, and Jew alike will be able to sing the words of that old Negro spiritual: “Born at last! Born at last! -- Thank G-D Almighty, we are born at last!”